Clint Bowyer has broken a 190-race winless run with victory in NASCAR’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
In a race delayed a day due to snow, Bowyer (#14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) led 215 of the last 216 laps as Kyle Busch (#18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) and Ryan Blaney (#12 Team Penske Ford) rounded out the top three.
Bowyer kept touch with the front-runners throughout the first half of the 500-lap race, falling just short of winning Stage 2, before taking the lead for the first time when he passed Blaney on Lap 285.
From there, he would head the field every lap except for one under Caution, winning by 1.1s.
Kyle Busch finished second for the third time in four races, the other having been a third placing, but takes over the series lead after six rounds.
Blaney held out Bowyer to win Stage 2 after also fending off Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) in a contest which lasted several laps at the start of the stage.
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He couldn’t keep up the pace in the final stage, however, and finished 4.7s adrift of second place.
Martin Truex Jnr (#78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota), pole-sitter by virtue of owner points after qualifying was washed out, led the first four laps on his way to finishing fourth.
Fifth through eighth was filled by Kevin Harvick (#4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford), Joey Logano (#22 Team Penske Ford), Alex Bowman (#88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), and AJ Allmendinger (#47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet).
Chase Elliott (#9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) finished ninth having twice got the free pass under Caution, one position ahead of Brad Keselowski (#2 Team Penske Ford).
Keselowski finished second in Stage 1, which was won by Hamlin in a tight three-car battle also involving Blaney.
Hamlin ultimately finished 12th after incurring damage from nose-to-tail contact with Harvick midway through the race.
There was one Caution for a crash, when Jamie McMurray (#1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) hit the wall after being tagged by Austin Dillon (#3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) on Lap 384.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes a week off before the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6-8.
Race highlights
Results: STP 500, Martinsville Speedway
| Pos | Num | Driver | Make | Laps | Led | Status |
| 1 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 500 | 215 | Running |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 500 | 24 | Running |
| 3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 500 | 145 | Running |
| 4 | 78 | Martin Truex Jnr | Toyota | 500 | 4 | Running |
| 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 6 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 7 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 8 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 500 | 1 | Running |
| 11 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 12 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 500 | 111 | Running |
| 13 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 500 | 0 | Running |
| 15 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | Running |
| 16 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | Running |
| 17 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 497 | 0 | Running |
| 18 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 497 | 0 | Running |
| 19 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 497 | 0 | Running |
| 20 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 497 | 0 | Running |
| 21 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 497 | 0 | Running |
| 22 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 496 | 0 | Running |
| 23 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 496 | 0 | Running |
| 24 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 496 | 0 | Running |
| 25 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 495 | 0 | Running |
| 26 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 495 | 0 | Running |
| 27 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 493 | 0 | Running |
| 28 | 96 | DJ Kennington | Toyota | 493 | 0 | Running |
| 29 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 493 | 0 | Running |
| 30 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 493 | 0 | Running |
| 31 | 55 | JJ Yeley | Chevrolet | 493 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 488 | 0 | Running |
| 33 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 486 | 0 | Running |
| 34 | 43 | Darrell Wallace | Chevrolet | 486 | 0 | Running |
| 35 | 51 | Harrison Rhodes | Chevrolet | 482 | 0 | Running |
| 36 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 481 | 0 | Running |
| 37 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jnr | Ford | 481 | 0 | Running |
| 38 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 211 | 0 | Rear gear |
Standings
| Pos | Driver | Pts | Gap | Starts | Wins | Pl’off pts |
| 1 | Kyle Busch | 257 | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
| 2 | Martin Truex Jnr | 249 | -8 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | 233 | -24 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Joey Logano | 232 | -25 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Brad Keselowski | 226 | -31 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 217 | -40 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Kevin Harvick | 212 | -45 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 8 | Clint Bowyer | 210 | -47 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 | Kyle Larson | 195 | -62 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Kurt Busch | 177 | -80 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Aric Almirola | 171 | -86 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Erik Jones | 152 | -105 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Austin Dillon | 148 | -109 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 14 | Alex Bowman | 145 | -112 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Paul Menard | 139 | -118 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Ryan Newman | 135 | -122 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Jimmie Johnson | 121 | -136 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Chase Elliott | 115 | -142 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | AJ Allmendinger | 110 | -147 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | William Byron | 108 | -149 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Ricky Stenhouse Jnr | 108 | -149 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Daniel Suarez | 100 | -157 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Darrell Wallace Jnr | 97 | -160 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Chris Buescher | 96 | -161 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Michael McDowell | 91 | -166 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | Jamie McMurray | 84 | -173 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Kasey Kahne | 78 | -179 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | David Ragan | 78 | -179 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Trevor Bayne | 72 | -185 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Ty Dillon | 62 | -195 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Matt DiBenedetto | 54 | -203 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Cole Whitt | 37 | -220 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Gray Gaulding | 31 | -226 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 28 | -229 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | DJ Kennington | 28 | -229 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Mark Thompson | 15 | -242 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Brendan Gaughan | 9 | -248 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Harrison Rhodes | 6 | -251 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Reed Sorenson | 3 | -254 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Danica Patrick | 2 | -255 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Corey LaJoie | 2 | -255 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Landon Cassill | 1 | -256 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | Justin Marks | 0 | -257 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | David Gilliland | 0 | -257 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Cole Custer | 0 | -257 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Ross Chastain | 0 | -257 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | JJ Yeley | 0 | -257 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Joey Gase | 0 | -257 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Timmy Hill | 0 | -257 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
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